Death of the Puppeteer
by geckogirl
Summary: follow up to "Captured Innocence". Finally, the day had come, and Jim's death is at hand. The couple he has tormented for too long will take their revenge.
1. Danny

Death of a puppeteer

Sage strolled about the atrium lightly, listening every once and a while to the cordial conversation between her love and the man she had never met.

At least in life anyway.

At first she had worried deeply for Edward's safety; even though Danny had such a kindly disposition and gave no hints of inimical behavior, she had kept her distance from him back then.

For what if he changed back to the Sadist she so clearly remembered?

Thankfully she had been reassured that Aaron had died with his remains, and now she could relax around Danny, although sometimes it didn't seem tangible that he was real.

It had been a year since she first came to the freak show and only a few months since she had been having these dreams of astral projection back to the mansion where Danny's spirit lingered.

Here in their dreams, her love had freedom. He could tend to his gardens or view the stars from the attic as he once remembered them.

Sadly back in reality, at the freak show, the lights caused the starry landscape to disappear.

Suddenly, the ghost's voice, called, distracting her from her thoughts.

She moved quickly hearing the implicated distress.

As the woman moved closer she heard the irascible words.

"Don't you want to be free of Jim's grasp?"

Edward seemed to be trying to ignore him; the conversation must of turned dark as she lost herself in thought.

"Yes…but I refuse to do that," responded Edward harshly.

"Do what?" asked the woman, intrigued.

"I can't kill him-I couldn't"

Sage wrapped her arms around the man and whispered in his ear.

"Your heart is too kind. You wish for his death as much as I do."

"It isn't that…I don't want to be the reason for another corpse."

The woman pulled away.

"I know…but remember what he has done to you…us. We could stop him from hurting anyone else."

Danny stepped in.

"Please listen to her."

"Why?"

"I can see what's going to happen if you don't."

The future.

Sage bit her lip, remembering other dreams, nightmares that came to her recently.

The ghost looked to her, knowing what she thought it seemed.

"The nightmares will come true, if you delay."

Now Edward looked from the spirit to the woman, questioning.

"A secret?"

Sage turned from him, ashamed.

"Like the dreams I had before, about being chased in that forest."

The man didn't say anything else, feeling slightly betrayed as he walked to the door to the atrium-the door that led to reality.

The woman immediately followed.

"I will do it if I have to. I don't know how…but you don't need to do anything."

She placed her hand on his shoulder turning him around.

"I will tell you about the nightmares tomorrow, I promise…"

"Why now?"

Why contemplate the death of their tormentor now?

Jim's death wish was clear in the way he did everything and now.

He deserved it, and now the woman knew the future she saw would come to pass if he didn't die.

"You will understand when you hear what will come"

The woman turned back to the ghost.

"Thank you. I wasn't sure if they were true."

As she and her love walked through the door she heard the soft thank you and smiled, feeling determined.

The puppeteer would die.


	2. What if the world were to end

DoaP part2

When the couple woke when the sky was still showing signs of daylight.

In the ostensible peace, no words were spoken, but tension seemed to scream.

She understood her love didn't want to be the cause of another death, but Jim deserved it, just as his uncle had. They both only moved slyly through their days hiding their treachery.

Sage would kill him and her love could watch if he wished.

She would make her officious husband leave this world, once and for all, and then she could live in contentment.

But the question remained of how?

The woman extended her conscience out to Edward, comforting him, telling him not to worry as she kissed his neck and left.

Once outside she could hear a lonely cello, the beautiful string instrument, which was playing such lovely melodies soothing her.

Moving on, she finally reached the tent of her husband as the sunset took its last bow and the curtain closed, leaving her in darkness.

The tent where Jim was was actually just a cover- a cover over a building, so the building could blend easily with its surroundings.

It fit her husband perfectly.

He was laying in the bed, staring at the ceiling.

No movement, almost as if he was in an eternal sleep.

His head tilted toward her only slightly as she approached, but nothing else.

She wondered how easily she could choke him.

In his sleep, perhaps?

He was back to staring at the ceiling as she crawled under the black cover, a death shroud.

"Welcome back," said the man softly, coldly.

Turning from him she responded with a simple hello.

The man seemed to be worried as he pulled his body close to her.

"You still mad at me?"

"When haven't I been?"

Jim pressed his body against his wife's, sighing, feeling the warmth of her body, sighing.

"It's for your safety."

The woman scooted away from him scoffing.

The man seemed relentless as he pulled her to him again, wrapping an arm around her.

Silence.

Finally the woman spoke.

"If the world were about to end and you didn't want to wait, how would you kill yourself?"

Jim, shocked spoke worriedly,

"Don't go emo on me…"

"No, I'm not being suicidal; I guess death has been on my mind…anyway, I would probably OD on sleeping pills or something like that, be able to drift into the eternal sleep. How 'bout you?"

"Why are you asking me again?"

"It's like asking your parents if they would want to be buried or burned…where they would want to have their ashes spread…"

"Okay…Poison. Injection…nothing messy. And for the record I would want to be burned. I wouldn't some idiots digging my body up one day."

Sage took in the information as her plan finalized.

The nightmares would end.

Jim started kissing her back and neck starting to spoon her.

"You have too much time on your hands," he said in-between kisses, his hands starting to roam.

Sage gave in to the wandering hands, knowing that soon they would never bother her again.


	3. The secret opera

The next morning the woman lethargically snuck away from the bed of her officious, sleeping husband the chilly morning darkness still prevailing.

Sage wrapped the woven shawl tighter to her body as she walked through the row of tents, noting that without the bustling crowds the place seemed absent of life.

She couldn't stop thinking about the information she got out of her captor and the repeat of the nightmare that had been stalking her.

Her devitalized body slowed as she passed through the tent where she performed almost every day.

A hand caressed one of the eighty-six bars that made up the web of steel.

Edward had told her the number of bars recently; a distraction that apparently proved worthwhile for him for that moment.

But the day he murmured that he had also spoke of his non-humanity, calling himself horrid names.

Monster.

Freak.

Jim had gotten to him again.

All because of those "sessions." 

She wasn't even supposed to know about them.

A number of her fellow "performers" had taken her aside and told her, what they had witnessed.

Her captor still tortured Edward.

Breaking him, so Sage might come to hate the beast.

Stupid child.

As she opened the flap and left the tent she wondered if there would be a way to elucidate to her captor, to reveal his wrongs.

It might take a while.

She wondered where she could find a drug to paralyze him, as she opened the door to the trailer, smiling.

From inside she heard the suave voice of the boy who had comforted her love when she couldn't.

Erik was truly brilliant; though he had his quirks.

Her excited young friend was talking about his opera again with Edward, mask off.

"I think that works perfectly. With this the plot is perfect!"

Turning to look at Edward, she could see a weak but amicable smile which comforted her immensely. 

Erik, the sagacious, wise being that he was, always knew how to cheer up her love.

He gave Edward a worth she couldn't seem to give him, and had an understanding of his friend that Sage could never truly feel.

She waited by the door for a moment until Erik's eyes turned on her, Edward's following.

The boy immediately ran up and embraced her in a hug.

No matter how much of a gentleman he made himself out to be, he really was just a kid inside.

Sage pressed her lips against his deformed skin muttering an early morning hello, then moved over to her love and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his neck, whispering her greeting, as Erik sat down on the other bed, smiling.

As she looked to see Erik holding in a bubble of laughter she thought about how he only took off his mask willingly with her and Edward.

It always felt like an honor to see him without it, happy.

But yet again, the disfigured boy thought of them as family, surrogate siblings, or perhaps pretend parents, sage being the mother he always wished for.

She found herself asking him about this opera he was taking on, but he just kept smiling.

So the woman looked to Edward who simply said it was a secret.

Sage laughed a bit, changing the subject.

"I heard you play your cello last night; lately all you've played is your violin, and though you sounded amazing, I wonder of this is for your opera?"

"Thank you, I felt I was getting rusty, that's all."

The woman knew he lied, but wouldn't say a word. She knew why he played now. And maybe she could start to figure out about this opera.

Letting it go, letting her boys have their secret, she asked Erik if he knew where to find poison and possibly something to paralyze.

"You mean to get rid of that annoying animal that keeps bothering you right?"asked the boy slyly, turning serious.

Sage just nodded starting to rub circles on her love's back.

Edward grew serious as well, looking curious.

Erik nodded back, walking out the door.

"Jim told me he would want to be poisoned if he had to die. I want to paralyze him first though. Are you satisfied?"

"Fine. But know the guilt will haunt you for the rest of your life."

The woman scoffed.

"I will be rejoicing for the rest of my life…anyway you wanted to know about the nightmare, right?"

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Sorry I've been taking so long to update, but I just broke through a week long writer's block, which totally sucked.

But I can write againcheers

Warning, this story has at least two more chapters after this, but don't worry I'll kill the bastard off soon enough. I wanted to use this story to show a bit more of Sage and Edward's life in the freak show and put in Erik, cause being such a huge phantom fan, I couldn't help myself.

And yes, Erik does not belong to me; he belongs to all the people who put him in books, plays, and movies.

I will try to put up the next chapter soon, since today is the first day of my week long break!


	4. Return of Madness

The man simply nodded.

Taking a deep breath the woman pulled her hands into her lap, the happy atmosphere disappearing.

Her expression showed her nervousness.

"Jim wanted to hurt you again…so…"

Deep breath, eyes closed; the vision coming back into mind.

"He used me…cut off my clothing and…"

No wonder.

Sage collapsed against him, her head leaning into his shoulder arms around him as she continued to breathe heavily, chocking back sobs, not daring to cry.

The words adhered to the man like a burr on a woolen cuff as his mind put together all the pieces.

Danny had said the nightmare would come true if she didn't prevent it.

He knew that she had been intimate with her captor, though only once.

But doing something like that in front of him?

How could it be possible that Jim would do that to the woman he loved?

Hadn't he changed in the slightest?

No, he used to abuse her and it seemed he could easily do it again.

He remembered the night Aaron had died.

The sadist had pushed Sage away and when Jim came over he had kicked her.

Not to mention all the other times he hurt her because of her love for Edward.

How could his captor hate him so?

Oh yes, if he hadn't been created, Sage would have loved him.

Why couldn't he see that she could never love him?

Why was it so hard?

After a few minutes of the depression settling in the woman finally pulled away, seemingly calm.

The sound of footsteps approached from outside.

Erik possibly?

Wait.

A group of people.

The door slammed open, Jim appearing, looking furious.

"Why is my wife here!?" he screamed walking over and pulling her from the bed.

"Why did you come here?"

"I've had a nightmare, "said the woman quietly.

Jim growled pulling her away from the door as Don and Conner appeared.

They both looked guilty as they grabbed Edward by the arms and gently pulled him from the room.

Sage pulled away from Jim angrily in the light of the pale morning.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Why do I always wake up alone?" was all her husband answered with as he pulled her to him again, his hands gripping her shoulders, shaking her slightly.

"I let you be with the beast, so why can't you show me mercy?"

He asked sullenly.

"I will destroy him if you can't love me!"

The woman gasped, her breathing turning erratic.

"I do love you, please believe me, but I love him to."

She gripped Jim too, pulling him into a hug.

"I do, please believe me. But if you weren't so cruel I could love you fully."

"Is it so cruel to want your love all to myself?"

Sage chocked back more sobs.

"No, it's not…but that is something I can never truthfully give to you."

Jim pushed her away.

"Then I shall keep torturing him. You know of the sessions now, I heard. And now that you do I believe it's time you come along and watch."

A mad glimmer appeared in the man's eye as he grabbed onto the woman's wrist and pulled her from the trailer, chuckling darkly.


	5. The Last Session

Once outside Sage pushed the man away from her, looking slightly predatory.

"How dare you?!" she exclaimed punching his jaw, then putting herself in a fighting position, admonishing the man, warning him that another punch may be coming.

Her husband just stood there, in shock, it seemed, suddenly looking devitalized.

Sage continued.

"Do you really think hurting him will force me to love you? I will only hate you more!"

"Let me guess. If one should expect kindness then they should give it," spoke the man gently touching his cheek looking slightly ignominious, as if he had realized his disgrace.

"But I cannot do such a thing, for you have shown me no mercy," spoke Jim as he pulled the woman closer, now appearing amicable.

Suddenly the sound of chains was heard from inside Edward's tent.

"You will not touch him," said the woman darkly.

"Of course my lady."

Jim pulled his wife close kissing her chastely on her hand, then moving to lips.

His tongue flicked across her lips, as he stroked her hair, starting to gently nibble on her lip.

A nip as he pulled away, drawing blood.

A small wound.

Then he began walking towards the tent knowing the woman would follow.

Inside she could see Edward in his chains again, the same position as if they were doing a performance.

But…

He only wore a lone strip of withered fabric that cradled his hips.

Edward had looked at her as she walked in but as soon as their gazes met he had looked away.

Thankfully the door was open.

The woman ran inside immediately, noticing that Don and Conner had disappeared and only Jim stood nearby, looking as apathetic as ever.

She found herself placing her hands onto her loves face, making him look at her.

Then she heard her captor's footsteps on the steel floor.

She turned facing her enemy, standing in front of Edward wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"You will not hurt him."

"Of course, my love," said Jim moving closer.

Sage didn't notice the knife until Jim was only a few feet away.

Gently he extended his hand out to her as if offering the knife to her.

Cautiously the woman moved away from Edward and grasped the handle to the knife.

But it was a trick of course.

Jim had moved behind her at lightning speed and enclosed the hand that held the knife in his own, and her other arm was twisted behind her back painfully.

"Bastard," spat the woman as she tried to struggle away.

It was useless.

"I shall not touch him or hurt him my dearest, as promised," spoke Jim slyly.

"you'll pay for this."

Jim laughed making his wife step forward and press the knife into her love's neck.

Edward who had been looking down, looked up immediately.

His eyes showed a sense of betrayal, at least until he noticed Jim.

"Coward," was all he said, making Jim force Sage to press the knife harder into his neck.

She couldn't move or else she could really hurt Edward.

"Wouldn't it be such a lovely memory, such a poetic moment; Sage, you killing the man you love with your own hands, while being held by your husband."

Sage felt her elbow jut back suddenly hitting Jim's ribs.

She could hear his grunt of pain but in response he made her hand move to Edward's shoulder and cut down all the way across his chest down to his exposed hip, making her love scream out in pain.

His body jerked, the fabric loosened exposing him fully.

But in his pain, Sage heard him whisper,

"I forgive you."

She was crying now, Jim loosening his grip on her hand.

The knife clattering to the ground.

Shaking she moved back, but her captor's bloody hand approached and smeared blood across her face.

Edward's blood.

The scent was overpowering.

"It's your entire fault; because of your love for this freak."

Jim left the cage then and before he disappeared from the tent he said,

"I'll be back home, so join me in a little while."

Now sobbing Sage backed against the bars of the cage, able to taste his blood in her mouth.

"What have I done?"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Erik who as soon as he saw her and Edward ran over and freed Edward from the scarecrow position and then undid the chains.

Looking at Sage he said,

"I'll have what you need in a few hours, I swear. I just wish I could do it myself."

And with that he left, leaving the couple alone.

Edward pulled himself over to her, saying it wasn't her fault.

Once he was close enough Sage clutched to him, apologizing fervently, tears pouring.

Edward carefully wrapped his arms around her, rocking her back and forth, kissing her head, his blood soaking into her white shirt.

"I could have killed you."

She loved him. 

But in part of his mind, Edward thought himself unworthy.

For in his private Hades, he had learned just how much of a despairing monster he was.

Though his feelings proved a supposed humanity he was only a demon, a freak who lived half a life, never changing.

A beast, claws included.

And the cage in which he performed was all that saved the crowd from him; the chains which bound him were all that saved him from humanity.

A point proven by how she always shrunk from him, even though she held him every night.

It seemed that as they clung to each other, they were only children, lost and lonely in this world of hate and lies.

What he knew most of all was that the masses came to glorify his suffering, agony and existence,

For he was in reality, alone in this world,

But he was her support as well,

Her saint, clad in linen,

A fallen angel, 

And black swan.

It seemed his destiny to suffer in silence,

So that he may lessen the pain of the woman he loved so dearly. 

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I promise this is the last chapter that Jim leaves breathing.

Yes, he dies next chapter….I had to bring you all to the ultimate hatred of him, just in case you forgot,lol, and considering the reviews I've gotten, you haven't.

So, any prediction of how Sage is going to kill him exactly, according to the info I have given in this story.

How much blood should there be?

Will Edward have a hand in his death?


	6. death of the puppeteer

The eerie calm pervaded in the darkened room as only a pale moonlight filtered in on the couple lying in bed.

Edward's wound had been wrapped and he now wore a gray linen shirt and pants.

Facing each other they whispered, speaking of plans of the ghastly deed.

The young masked boy walked in and placed a box on the empty bed, whispering them luck on their mission before quickly disappearing into the night.

Sage silently got up and opened the small box to see to needles placed neatly inside and a small note with the simplest of messages.

Top- paralysis

Bottom-Death

Closing the box she asked her love if he was ready.

Edward closed his eyes for a moment, sitting up, as if gathering himself and said yes with a determination she had never seen in him before.

Then he got up and walked to the door, waiting.

The woman quickly followed, only stopping to pick up the blooded knife that lay on the dresser.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at the room where her husband, captor, and tormentor lie asleep.

His hands were still covered in blood, just as his soul was stained with blood.

Silently the woman opened the box and took out the top needle and swiftly injected it into Jim's arm.

Then she called his name waking him with a sweet voice.

But it didn't take the man long to realize he could move nothing but his eyes, and he couldn't speak.

"Good evening, dearest," spoke the woman sarcastically.

Jim's eyes darted about the room desperately but then glued themselves to Sage, pleadingly.

Edward had moved out of his eyesight, suddenly afraid of the man who had tortured him for the past year.

Sage gently put the needle on the bed before showing Jim the other object she held.

"I think it would quite poetic if you were to die by the knife you used to force your wife to hurt her true love with," she said gently moving the knife to Jim's neck, touching it to his skin.

"And such a lovely memory it would be."

"But I will be merciful, for all the kindness you've shown me. You will die by poison injection and I shall burn your body as wished."

From behind her, Edward moved forward back to where Jim could see him as the woman continued.

"But before I do so, I wish to make you pay for the crimes you have committed,"

She cut the front of his shirt open ,moving the knife to his chest and started carving;

For I am the tormentor of Innocence

But may God forgive me

May all those I have tormented

Live in peace as I lay in my grave

Sage stepped back, blood dripping freshly from the knife, Edward taking her place.

"All I have ever done is love her. I'm sorry that she doesn't love you and me instead. But you are the monster here. You deserve nothing, but be grateful for the kindness she had shown you."

Jim's eyes were shut tight, tears welling, though Edward could not tell if it was the pain or perhaps something else.

The scissorhanded man looked to Sage who took the other needle out of the box and nodded, moving by her love's side.

Edward placed his scissorhand to Jim's neck and pressed down, sliding a blade across his throat as Sage injected the poison into him.

Slowly the man's eyes relaxed and his body grew cold, blood seeping from his fresh wounds.

Sage moved in kissing his forehead whispering

"I forgive you for all that you've done. I hope you understand and forgive me."

Then before she left the woman placed the knife on the bed, wondering if anyone would find his body before she burned it the next day.

It seemed a surreal world as she and Edward walked out the door, closing it behind them, knowing that the man inside would never awaken.

Their tormentor was no more.

The man who had manipulated them , tortured them, and almost broke them would breath no more.

Their strings had been cut from him.

The puppeteer was dead.


End file.
